Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 19: Firestarter!

"I don't know what amazes me more," Kitty Pryde told Gwen Stacy as she returned to the apartment they shared late in the afternoon, "your amazingly strong work ethic, or your amazingly bad taste in literature," she smirked, raising an eyebrow at the Twilight book Gwen was reading. Gwen had spent almost the entire day catching up on her schoolwork and her lines in A Streetcar Named Desire. She remained seated in the same place, surrounded by the same mass of books, that Kitty had left her in when she'd gone out to run some errands earlier that day, the only difference being the Stephanie Meyer novel she was reading while taking a break.

"Har har," Gwen said sarcastically without looking up. "This from the girl who has the amazingly bad taste in music. After all, I'm not the one with all the Britney Spears albums," she smirked right back at Kitty, raising her eyes from her novel.

"What can I say?" Kitty shrugged. "I was a stupid little kid. Anyway, how's it going?"

"Well, my head hasn't exploded, so that's a plus," Gwen chuckled. "But I got enough done for today. How's Ben doing?"

"Still a little shaken up from the robbery done by that…what was the guy's name?"

"Jack O' Lantern," Gwen frowned. As Spider-Woman, she'd managed to drive Jack O' Lantern away, but not before the pumpkin-headed maniac had managed to kill several people and seriously injure many more.

"Yeah," Kitty nodded. "He'll be alright though. He was more worried about you," she finished with a wry grin, causing Gwen to blush in embarrassment.

Gwen only smiled and went back to her book, although in her mind she was juggling what she was going to say to Ben the next time he asked her out…and what she was going to say to Randy Robertson the next time he asked her out.

SPIDER-WOMAN #19

"FIRESTARTER"

George Stacy scowled at the doorman as he waited for the lackey to let him into the South Side Gentleman's Club. It had been a very long day, and George was eagerly looking forward to a good hard scotch on the rocks.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stacy, but you're no longer welcome at the club," the doorman replied with an insolent smirk. The doorman had long resented George's sneering, demeaning treatment of him and the rest of the club staff, and he relished the chance of getting even.

"What the fuck do you mean, I'm not welcome?" George shouted, looking as if he was about to pop a blood vessel. "All I have to do is blink, and your ass is fired! Now let me in!"

"Really now, do you have to make a scene?" George heard a mocking voice behind him. Turning around with a scowl, George noted the arrival of J. Jonah Jameson, publisher, editor-in-chief, owner and sole stockholder of the Daily Bugle and a long-standing member of the club. There was no love lost between the two men, who had hated each other for years.

"Are you fucking with me, Jameson?" George demanded, his face red with anger. "You're behind this, aren't you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Jameson asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just because you've been expelled from the club?"

"Expelled?" George shouted again, this time attracting the attention of passerby, as the doorman continued standing nearby in silence, smirking all the while. "You know goddamn well you don't have the authority to do that, Jameson!"

"Maybe not," Jameson replied calmly, folding his arms, "but the executive most certainly does. They don't particularly care to have an anti-mutant bigot among their membership."

"Those mutant shits were lying!" George roared at the top of his lungs, dropping his briefcase and charging at Jameson, before slamming him against the wall of the building. Ever since he had been exposed by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as a supporter of the anti-mutant group that called itself the Friends of Humanity, George had lost numerous clients, many of whom were afraid that doing business with him would harm their professional reputations.